Oilers Playoffs 2006: 11 wins down, 5 to go

This was the last Oilers game I'll get to see this year regardless of the outcome (see the next post up for a sort-of explanation). They went out in typical Oilers style. And by typical Oilers style, I mean choking up a 4-0 lead in four minutes flat. No, seriously: O'Donnel scored at 7:15 in the third. Kunitz scored at 11:15. Brutal. Brutal. I'd just finished freaking out asian passerbys with the hooting and hollering out of my window, only to have to suddenly start eating crow.

As I noted on Battle of Alberta'a gameday thread, its not my fault: I blame one of my buddies from the baseball pool who called me after the 4-0 lead. By the end of the call it was 4-3 (I thought my cell said 3:54 when I hung up... must have been 5:34 or something). I wasn't the only one: "Chang" phoned "Martok" at about the exact same time, and the call ended at about the exact same time. Both men have a tendency to tempt karma, as Andy Grabia did in the BofA thread I link to above. Many in the Oiloblogosphere (geesh these names are getting ridiculous) have been very concerned with "tempting the hockey gods". Look guys, these so-called hockey gods may be miffed when you shave your beard, or play ads during the World Cup showing your victory parade (particularly when you aren't exactly overwhelming favourites: they get positively pissed, however, when your team's least talented player showboats to the crowd and fans start talking about a guaranteed trip to the Cup five minutes into the 3rd period!

I unfortunately was unable to make it down to Whyte Avenue for the game fun: company over in the afternoon and discovering I had to drive down to work to get the farewell letters I was taking with me really impacted my ability to get everything done in time. I hope the rioting was good. *Sniffle*

So Game 4, possibility of the sweep. To be honest, I don't like the Oilers' chances: they'll still be recovering from the flu. Anaheim will be very hungry. This will be an entire game like the 3rd period tonight. And that means a very large number of goals. (Hopefully Edmonton has 50%+1 of them!) This would also mean that Edmonton has clinched every series on home ice, despite being the road team every series. Not bad!